The invention relates to apparatus and methods for remodeling pre-existing buildings, and more particularly, to methods for adding upper story rooms to pre-existing residences.
The cost of new homes has skyrocketed within the past decade, and the very high interest rates that have prevailed for mortgage loans in recent years have put the average total monthly payment for a new home far higher than is affordable by the vast majority of American families. Yet, the amount of room needed by many families in order to live comfortably as their families grow has continued to increase. Therefore, increasing numbers of home owners now opt to add rooms to their present residences, since they can not afford the high mortgage payments that would result if they were to purchase a larger home which they would have to refinance.
In many cases, adding one or two rooms or "wings" onto a typical single story residence is a relatively simple matter, and the cost of financing such an addition at prevailing interest rates can be much more easily afforded by a typical family than financing of a larger house having the same liveable area as their present house with a new room addition.
Unfortunately, many single story residences are so situated on lots that it is impractical to add a ground level room addition because of the presence of fences, zoning restrictions, or other problems. In such situations, the only choice available is to add one or more second story rooms to the residence. Using conventional building techniques, the addition of a second story room addition is a much more complex and expensive task than adding of a comparable size ground level room. Typically, addition of a second story room requires piece-by-piece removal of the original roof covering the portion of the residence to which the second story room is to be added. This is an operation in which is both time consuming and wasteful of the materials of which the removed roof portion is constructed. Furthermore, the interior of the residence is exposed to any bad weather that may unexpectedly occur until the "shell" of the new second story room addition is complete. The new floor of the second story room addition typically is constructed by carrying large beams and floor joists, piece-by-piece, up ladders and positioning them to span the exposed portion of the residence. Floor boards or plywood sheets then also are lifted, piece-by-piece, up to the site of the second story room addition and are fastened on top of the joists which, to some extent, protect the underlying ceiling of the residence. However, the floor is not waterproof and any significant amount of rain would cause leakage that would stain and otherwise damage the underlying ceiling and adjacent walls. Next, wall studs typically are erected, again on a piece-by-piece basis, forming the basic structure for the outer walls of the second story room addition. Next, preassembled trusses are delivered to the building site and are hand carried up to the top of the second story structure and are positioned on the installed basic wall sections and are fastened thereto. Next, roof sheathing is provided, and finally roofing, such as shingles, is attached to the outer surface of the sheathing. Normally, siding boards or sheets are installed on a piece-by-piece basis. Ceiling panels are attached to the bottoms of the trusses forming the new roof section, and insulation is installed in the attic space. This entire construction process may require the interior of the residence to be exposed or partially exposed to the effects of bad weather for quite a number of days, and the additional labor required because of the necessity of transporting the material to the second story working site, and also time wasted as workers repeatedly climb up and down ladders, means that a great deal of added expense and inconvenience occurs when it is necessary to make a second story addition to a pre-existing residence.
Although prefabricated buildings of various types are well known, wherein preconstructed floor, wall, and roof sections of modular buildings are all transported to a preconstructed foundation, whereat a crane is utilized to position the preconstructed floor, wall, and roof structures, these techniques have never been applied to remodeling pre-existing single story residences, which themselves usually have been constructed using conventional piece-by-piece building techniques. Apparently, it has been believed that prefabricated second story wall, floor and roof structures can not be conveniently matched to such structures in a practical manner, and for good reason: most preexisting residences are not modular or standardized in structure. Therefore, room additions usually need to be custom tailored to meet the different individual needs of each residence that is to be enlarged by adding a second story thereto. Accordingly, conventional piece-by-piece construction techniques have been widely, perhaps universally, used in the upper story room addition art.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,722,171; 3,600,870; 4,012,871; 4,272,930; and 3,964,218 are believed to be illustrative of the state of the art for prefabricated building construction techniques. However, none of the above references disclose or suggest techniques that have in the past been found to be well suited to making second story additions thereto.
Accordingly, there appears to be a great unmet need for a method and associated apparatus for economically and conveniently adding second story rooms to preexisting buildings, especially preexisting residences.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a low cost method and apparatus for conveniently adding second story room additions to preexisting structures, especially preexisting residential structures.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for conveniently making second story room additions to preexisting residential structures without requiring the construction of an entire new roof to cover the second story room additions.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method and associated apparatus that permits relatively rapid construction of a second story room addition on a building to minimize the exposure of interior portions of the building to possible bad weather during construction.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for constructing second story room additions to preexisting structures to minimize the amount of labor and building material required to construct such room additions.